She and Mademoiselle d'Outrelaise, whom she took to live with her,
gave the tone to the best company of Paris and the court, though they
never went thither. They were called _Les Divines_. In fact, they
demanded incense like goddesses; and it was lavished upon them all
their lives."
Mademoiselle d'Outrelaise died long before the countess, who retained
in old age the rare social gifts which to the last made her apartments
a resort of the highest society of that brilliant epoch. It was in her
power to be very useful to her absent husband, who often needed her
support, and who seems to have often received it.
She was childless. Her son, Francois Louis, was killed, some say in
battle, and others in a duel, at an early age. Her husband died nine
years before her; and the old countess left what little she had to her
friend Beringhen, the king's master of the horse. [Footnote: On
Frontenac and his family, see Appendix A.]
[1] Note of M. Brunet, in _Correspondance de la Duchesse d'Orleans_,
I. 200 (ed. 1869). The following lines, among others, were passed
about secretly among the courtiers:--
"Je suis ravi que le roi, notre sire,
Aime la Montespan;
Moi, Frontenac, je me creve de rire,
Sachant ce qui lui pend;
Et je dirai, sans etre des plus bestes,
Tu n'as que mon reste,
Roi,
Tu n'as que mon reste.
Pages:
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37